David Wessel on the Fed's Current Inflection Point

David Wessel is a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings and is the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. In David's first appearance on the show, he discusses stories of the Greenspan Fed, what is was like in Europe when the euro was adopted, the legacy of the Powell Fed, his thoughts on the great man theory, the outlook for the Kevin Warsh Fed, the ongoing challenge of Fed independence, and much more.

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Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links.

Recorded on June 15th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:48 - David's Career

00:19:30 - Legacies of Fed Chairmans

00:31:51 - Kevin Warsh Fed

00:43:34 - Fed Independence

00:55:13 - Outro